I'm a C# developer having worked with .Net since it was in beta. Before that I mainly worked in C and C++. I have been developing commercial software for more than 20 years. I also mess around with microprocessors, but that's just for fun. I live near Cambridge, England and work from home in my 'silicon shed'.

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Well, it would not be unusual for me to mention a good place to get coffee in the Canary Islands. We've recently returned from the island of La Palma, which is a fantastic place. We were walking along the main street of the captial, Santa Cruz and noticed this place called 'Supracafe' (on Calle O'Daly, the main shopping street):

It looked tempting, and the views were pretty nice:

Anyway, we had coffee and cake ... and it was the best:

If you go there, then we'd recommend it. You can recognise the cafe by the mural on their wall:

Both the cake and the coffee were delicious. The coffee was like a mini Flat White or a large Cortado. The Chocolate cake contained a fantastic chocolate and hazelnut mousse and was not too heavy despite the fact that we were given a massive slice.

Apart from that, it was just nice to sit on the street, take a break and watch the world go by...

I like coffee. But I drink too much of it, so I've mainly switched to decaf at the moment. My objections to most decaffeinated coffees are 1) they don't taste the same, and 2) I'm worried that they're full of other chemicals left over from the process of removing the caffeine.

So I've been experimenting. Or rather, my wife has been experimenting and I have been the tester/victim. Actually, it's not been too bad, she has chosen wisely.

So far the winners are...

Ground coffee: Grumpy Mule Organic Sumatra

Instant coffee: Clipper Super Special Organic Decaf

Both are organic and fairtrade. Both use a water process to remove the caffeine, so no nasty chemicals. And both taste OK, IMHO (I think they're pretty nice actually).

Sometimes I mix them with a regular coffee to make a 50/50 blend, just to get a little caffeine. Just occasionally.

They are worth checking out, if you're looking for a nice cup of decaf.

We went on holiday to Tenerife recently. It was nice, but very hot - the on-street
temperature displays were reading 39°C on the day we arrived. So it was a
real shame that the air conditioning was not working in our hotel :-( Actually,
it's the first time in over a decade that we've felt let down by Thomson
holidays (TUI). The hotel was just not up to their usual standard. But apart
from that, we had a nice time.

Anyway, when on holiday I'm extra-happy if I can find a decent cup of coffee..
Most of the Spanish coffee is not to my personal taste, so I have pretty low
expectations when I go to the Canary Islands. I mostly prefer the Italian
style of caffeinated beverage of course...

But we actually found this place, which did nice 'Italian-style' coffee and
was also extremely cheap:

Result! So look out for Freddinos if you're in Puerto de la Cruz and want a nice
coffee.

But I have to say their ice cream and cheesecakes were awesome too, look at this
beauty: